Lock the Gate Alliance has hit back at remarks from the National Secretary of the AWU in response to NSW Labor’s commitment to stop the Narrabri CSG project in north-west NSW.
Lock the Gate said the comments revealed the national union was not aware of the breadth and scale of public opposition to the gasfield, and the risk it poses to livelihoods and the environment.
National Secretary of the AWU, Dan Walton, characterised opposition to the gasfield as ‘prioritising the imagined concerns of a noisy few.'
Lock the Gate NSW spokesperson Georgina Woods said, "The National branch of the union may not be aware that more than 100 communities across three million hectares in north-west NSW have surveyed their populations, going door to door, and declared themselves gasfield free.
"The union is also probably not aware of the 23,000 submissions made opposing the Narrabri gas project, nor of the results of extensive door-knocking in Narrabri itself that revealed majority opposition to the gasfield.
"Fortunately, those closer to the project understand that Narrabri doesn’t have to jeopardise precious groundwater for a high risk low-yield and low-jobs coal seam gasfield.
"Investment in renewable energy will provide an order of magnitude more jobs than CSG and they are jobs that will last and will not compromise the water resources upon which rural communities depend utterly.
"We invite Mr Walton to visit the communities of North West NSW to hear first hand from local farmers, businesses and communities as to why CSG is not welcome in the region," she said.
